Let’s start with a behind the scenes tour of one of Canada’s most interesting hours of television, The Hour and George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight, hosted by the latter. George Strombo, which is how anyone without a photographic memory spell his name, is known for his original gen X-Y’ers work as a VJ on Much Music. Yours truly remembers him well when Much Music actually used to play music videos… it’s true, look it up non-believers born after Y2K – Anywho, a quick survey of local Torontonians quickly reveal George as a man who is passionate about being different and is a deep intellectual thinker.

Chris and I scored a chance to be part of the live audience during a taping of his show at CBC studio. Some slight disappointment ensued when we learned Strombo wasn’t going to be making an appearance. He was actually in NYC where he just finished an exclusive interview with Admiral General Aladeen aka The Dictator : Sacha Baron Cohen. Some episodes are filmed in multiple cuts and locations.

We did however get an advance private viewing of his interview – where the “Dictator” praises one of his “own”, Steven Harper; quickly praising Harper’s work on suppressing the “Media’, which was hilarious… yet true.

The disappointment of missing George at his taping was quickly washed away with solid performances by Nova Scotia’s own Yarmouth boys Wintersleep. Playing two takes of In Came the Flood and one take of Resuscitate.

The behind the scene feel is a very intimate one with less than 100 people sitting around cheering for the sound track. You actually feel like you’re part of the performance. Tim, our audience coordinator, did a great job entertaining us with witty jokes and games. He asked the crowd if anyone had any notable skills – where Chris was quick to reveal he practiced Telekinesis… this hasn’t been confirmed yet, but we’re working on it.

You can apply for FREE tickets to be part of a live Strombo taping at the following link: